Second post of week

I took a couple more nature photos that I really enjoyed. I also was in Massachusetts over the weekend and did some shooting there. My favorite photo in this post was the picture of the leaves. It was just such a beautiful moment.

I am really enjoying discovering myself as a photographer. It's a glorious journey. 

Week 5 - Macros

For this weeks Macros assignment, I took a few shots everywhere I could. I did have a Macro setting on my camera, but like a few of the other students, alot came out blurry and had to take many shots of the target.

For this shot, I was at work and fooling around with the macro settings and wanted to try it out on my coffee mug. Once I got it home, I set it to very saturated because I wanted the green to really stand out. Also, I noticed the markings on the cup from use and abuse really stood out.

For the picture of this particular flower, its actually a piece of artwork in one of my bathrooms. I thought it would be an interesting piece to shoot, and I really like the coloring of it so I did not change anything. I got as close to it as I could to get this shot.

This next shot is an actually flower in my kitchen. I put it next to the picture window and snapped the picture. I had to crop the picture because of lighting and other objects that got in the shot. Once I cropped it, I changed the saturation and brightness to really bring out the colors in the flower against the backdrop of the woods.

This next picture was taken at the LEGO store in West Farms Mall. I thought it would look pretty cool with a cardboard box behind it. I had to change the saturation on this one as well because the cardboard came out really bright.

This shot was taken from some rocks I collected when I went Kayaking on the CT River. I brought them home for my 7 year old and placed them on the back porch. I like the design on the rocks and thought it really stood out with it being B&W and the red filter set.

Here is the same shot with color added and the brightness and saturation lessoned.

I lined up a few of my 7 year old LEGOs and made them all look at the camera. I made it B&W and customized the preset to get the front face to really stand out by using the high contrast red filter.

I have always enjoyed seeing pictures of sheet music and artist creating masterpieces, so I grabbed one of the music books laying around and took a close shot of one the pages. The lighting was poor but I liked how the picture came out because of it. It reminds me of shots of Miles Davis in the studio and the lighting was bad and pictures came out natural. So I left this shot alone.

This shot took about 100 trys because my do is so curious. So I had to get down on the floor with him just start snapping. I finally got a shot that I liked.

This shot is of an aisle of cuff links in a store. I like it in B&W so this is the result. The lighting was good and gave great reflection off certain links.  

Macro - Maks Danilin

 For this weeks macro project I tried to get as close as possible but kept running into problems with my camera taking the shot out of focus.  My camera doesn't have a flower icon but i did have a close-up filter kit that helped a little.  The first is a cactus that I was able to get fairly close to. 

The second is a shot of some colored chalk with ground chalk beneath it.  I played with the levels to get the colors to really stand out.  I also sharpened the image to show the scratches in the chalk.

 This shot is of a small piece of fools gold.  I really liked the spider on a CD shot (High-tech Jumper) in the macro picture gallery.  I ended up using a mirror for this shot with a backdrop I printed out to give it a nice color.  I increased the saturation to bring the gold color out.

This last shot was of a bug I saw while taking pictures of the cactus.  I took about 60 pictures attempting to get a clear shot and this was the best.  While taking the pictures all I could see was a black beetle so I surprised to see that the body has nice colors and design.  I also like the shadow which shows a different angle of the bugs form.

Sarina Lungarini --Week Five

So I tried to get as close as I could to some objects  and even using the flower icon on my camera, some shots just ended up being really blurry, however I think the photos I did manage to take met the criteria for this week. Most of these photos are taken from my workplace and my backyard.

I like this because you see the shine of pebbles 

One of the few moments my dog is still enough for me to take a picture of him

Pictures taken in the style of Keith Carter on a wonderful getaway

I did a lot of shooting all over the place while I was on a short getaway. I captured many beautiful subjects and moments. I do feel as though I am getting much more comfortable with the lighting and the editing of black and white photos.

I am very excited about all these new pictures as I really put a lot of time and effort into trying to find beautiful landscapes and buildings. My favorite of this post is the second to last. This was a very swampy area on a hiking trail that just spoke to me. I loved the reflection of the water with the trees protruding out. I also have a love for the boat photo. To me, it feels vintage. 

Week 5

This week is all about getting as close as your camera will possibly allow, filling the frame and finding interesting design all at the same time.  Most point-and-shoot cameras have a small tulip icon that needs to be turned on in order for the camera to focus in macro mode.  Once in that mode, press the shutter button halfway down and move your body carefully noticing what's in focus and what is not.  Once you have aligned the focal point with the sharpest area, continue to squeeze the shutter button gently take the shot.

Here is what I've written in the syllabus...

God is in the Details: Altered scale: Large images from tiny object(s) (The macro project)

Read The Photographer's Eye, John Szarkowski, Introduction to the Catalog of the Exhibition

Most of your digital cameras have the wonderful ability to get really close to things and keep it in sharp focus. This is called "Macro" photography. Find out how close your camera can get and shoot everything this week from this distance. My Nikon coolpix can get to within 3/4" of the subject and keep it really sharp. Each camera is different so look it up in your manual. Generally there is a "tulip" icon that you need to press or see in the lcd screen to know you are in macro mode. If you have a scanner at home, consider using it as you digital camera for the week. Scanners capture remarkable detail... better than digital cameras....

Browse through this gallery of amazing macro shots.

Technique: Use your scanner, leave the lid open and place a flower bud side down.  Scan it at fairly high resolution... When scanning a flower, leave the lid of the scanner up. Preview the bed of the scanner then select just the area you want. Only then click scan. Here is where you choose how large a scan you'd like. Since most of our work is posted online, this won't matter... If you'd like to make prints, go back and reread my article on resolution.

If you don't have access to a scanner take a look at:

Take a look at this Google images search for  "scanned flowers"

Chrissie's macro picture a day from Belgium. Simple, do-able....
More Florals.... Visit a greenhouse... how's your garden? Mariam El-Mofty from Egypt. Use the macro setting on your camera, move in close!

Submit your best  images on the class blog...

Week 4 - Shadows and Light

For this week's assignment, I took pictures where I camp. 

For this picture I was looking at the way the sun reflected off the silver around the fan. I had to fool around with it so it would be so bright in the shot. 

For this shot on a friends wood pile, I had to change the way it was bright in different spots. I took some of the color out and tried to make it more like the way the color should be for wood. The lower picture is the original. 

For this shot, I really wanted the focal point to be the red wire. 

Here is an empty swing that I also made b&w below. I liked how the sun created the shadow on the ground. I wished I could have gotten it more symmetric but I would have been in the shot. 

This is a decorative flower fan in one of the sites. I liked how the sun shows both the shadow and light of each pedal or blade. 

This is an empty ladder to the swing shown before. 

second post of the week

I have found that it's actually been a bit challenging to try to mimic Keith Carter's work. Just finding the perfect pictures is a struggle. When you add the lighting and effects of color, it is definitely tricky. I do think I am moving in the right direction though!

I can't really say that there was a concrete theme in the photos taken - more so just of what spoke to me. I did pay more attention to the editing in terms of contrast. I've found that I am a fan of the nature photos and of still photos. I believe that almost all of Keith Carter's photos fall into those two categories as well. And the journey continues....

Shadows and Light - Maks Danilin

 

For this weeks assignment I tried to capture different shadows and light around the house and around town.  The first shot is my dog and the shadow of the blinds on half his face giving him a tiger look.   This was inspired by the "Gloredel" post of the women with shadow tears.  I debated whether to go b/w or to leave some of the color but in the end felt this one was stronger. 

For this shot I wanted to play with the idea of shadows interacting with objects.

 

This shot was inspired by the candle light shot by Vilhjálmur Ingi Vilhjálmsson.  The candle was emitting a blue light as well with dark rings and patterns surrounding it.  I increased the saturation and have been debating whether to crop out the background.

 This was a shot of the wind turbines on York Hill.  The turbines were spinning and the shadows kept moving creating difficultly to catch a great shadow shot.  I tried to darken the image to hide that the sky is blown out but I like the picture because of the unique design and landscape.

Sarina Lungarini Week Four

These I took while at work, around my house, and other places. Black and white seemed fitting because we were focusing on light and shadow

the last two images are the same except the second has more contrast, in black and white and the brightness is down a bit